Written by

Larry Phillips

CentralOhio.com

COLUMBUS — While the Ohio State coaching staff is putting the finishing touches on its 2014 recruiting class, seven members of the group already are on campus.

Georgia linebacker Raekwon McMillan and quarterback Stephen Collier, Florida receiver Johnnie Dixon, New York receiver Curtis Samuel, Kentucky kicker Sean Nuernberger and Ohio linemen Marcelys Jones and Kyle Trout are in Columbus, taking classes and working out with the Buckeyes.

Trout, of Lancaster, is a two-time All-Ohioan. He is rated as one of the top 25 offensive tackles in the nation.

“I am going to get onto the field because I am a hard worker,” Trout told The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. “I’ll play guard if they want me to play guard; I will play anywhere. Center opens up, I’ll try and play center. I just want to get playing time. And I’ll get it.”

This is the third consecutive year that at least five prospects graduated early to join the program and begin practice before the end of the traditional school year.

“It’s good (Trout) is enrolling early at Ohio State,” Lancaster coach Rob Carpenter told The Plain Dealer. “High school is done for you. You don’t need to go to prom; you don’t need all that stuff. You need to get up there with big-time football, get into that environment and get with one of the top training staffs in the country.”

The results are mixed. In 2002, Maurice Clarett took that approach and was Big Ten Freshman of the Year. In 2013, five players enrolled early, but none played a significant role as true freshmen.

Hopes are high at least one member of the 2014 class will be different.

McMillan won the high school Butkus Award and was considered the top linebacker in the nation this past season. The Buckeyes have struggled at the middle linebacker position for at least three years, meaning immediate playing time can be had.

“(He) turned into the best linebacker in the nation because he was the ultimate team guy,” assistant coach Tony Glazer told Eleven Warriors.com.

“It was always about just trying to get in the win on Friday, and not how many tackles could he get. He’s a better person then he is football player.”

Collier and Jones almost are certain redshirts, while Nuernberger probably will be thrust into immediate action. This is coach Urban Meyer’s third recruiting class at Ohio State, and Dixon is reputed to be the best wide receiver from any of those years. The Buckeyes only lose Corey Brown from their receiving crew, but Dixon could find his way on the field.

Samuel was more running back than receiver in high school, but played in the secondary during workouts at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. He might be the most versatile member of the class, and could see time at any of three positions.

Samuel chose the Buckeyes over Alabama, Miami and Notre Dame.

“I think it was Urban Meyer himself, and how comfortable (Samuel) felt in their offense,” Erasmus Hall, N.Y., coach Danny Landberg told the New York Daily News of his star’s decision.

Theoretically, all seven players have an early headstart on their future classmates. But making an early impact at a perennial top-10 program is a stretch for any teenager. Some of them will discover that fact sooner than others.